Towel dispensing cabinet



July 7, 1942. R. G. BIRR ET AL TOWEL DISPENSING CABINET Original Filed Aug. 17, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet l .llllAeT Z/OWiS,

y 1942' R. G. BIRR ETAL TOWEL DISPENSING CABINET Original Filed Aug. 17, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Qw mw @Q WN 1 1 1 I I 1 I I 1 r I I 1 1 1 1 I 1 u l 1 1 3 I- Patented July 7, 1942 wald, River Forest, 111., assignors to Steiner Sales Company, Salt Lake City, Utah, a corporation of Utah ATET OFFICE Application December 7, 1939, Serial No. 307,948, which is a division of application Serial No. 225,398, August 1'7, v1938. Divided and this application December 23, 1940', Serial No. 371,343

6 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in dispensing cabinet constructions of a type known as a continuous cabinet, in which when loading the cabinet with a supply roll of clean washable toweling, it is necessary, in order to form a loop of toweling, to take a terminal portion of the toweling in the hand and pass the hand and the toweling upwardly through an opening in the bottom of the cabinet to a position to facilitate its connection with a soiled towel takeup roll, and in which friction of the toweling on a measuring roll operates all rolls.

This application is divisional of our copending application Serial No. 307,948 which has matured into Patent No. 2,251,818 issued August 5, 1941, in turn divisional of our copending parent application Serial No. 225,398 which has matured into Patent No. 2,255,609 issued September 9, 1941. The invention of this application relates particularly to friction reducing means with which the toweling engages and over which it rides after leaving the feed roll or dispensing roll, and which holds the toweling after it is passed out of the cabinet, in spaced relation to the front face of the cabinet to provide space for receiving fingers introduced from opposite edges of the towel to a point between the rear of the towel and the front face of the cabinet preparatory to pulling out. In loop-type cabinets the formation of the loop causes the front part of the loop to hug the front face of the cabinet so that it is difficult to pass the fingers behind it.

Features of the invention include: The means by which the toweling is held in spaced relation; and the arrangement of this holding-out means in relation to the point at which the toweling leaves the pinch roll and to the delivery opening, whereby to cause the toweling to form a straight line from the pinch roll outwardly through the discharge opening, and be so disposed that it does not engage the upper or lower sides of the discharge opening while it is being pulled or fed.

Another feature relates to the specific construction and manner of connecting the antifriction part from which the toweling hangs after delivery through the delivery opening and by which it is held in the aforesaid spaced relation.

Objects, features and advantages of the invention will be disclosed in the description of the drawings, and in said drawings- Figure 1 is a vertical transverse section showing the toweling in place with the doors closed, Y ,7

and showing how the toweling lying outside 01 the cabinet is spaced from the front wall thereof by the anti-friction device; and

Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken substantially on line 22 of Figure 1,

In the drawings thenumeral I' generally designates the outer casing having sides rounded at their tops and bottoms. The numeral 5 indicates what is herein designated as a bottom door and this door is hinged as at 6 to the bottom 4 of the cabinet. The door closes about one-half ofthe front opening .of the cabinet and forms partof the bottom of the outer casing and has at its upper end projections which are engaged by latches. g p

Numeral iii indicatesfan upper door or cover which forms part of the top wall of the cabinet and closes about one-half of the front opening. This top door overlaps and covers the latch.-

ingprojections of the lower door and the heads of the latches, as shown in Figure l. The lower edge of the upper door and the upper edge of the lower door are so formed as to define, when the doors are closed, adiSDensin'g or delivery slot or opening Id downwardly and outwardly through which the toweling extends.

An important feature of the present invention concerns the relations of. the discharge opening to the towelingwhich passes outwardly through it, and to means for outwardly spacing the toweling, and to a feed or dispensing or measuring roll. One of the objects herein is to prevent friction between the toweling .and upper and lower edges of a discharge opening, and also specifically to prevent such toweling frictionbetween the lower edge of an upper door and the upper edge of a lower door.

The upper part of the lower door (see Figure 1) is inwardly, upwardly slanted as at 15 and overlying this slanted portion at the outer side is a friction reducing plate li'also upwardly, inwardly slanted and in this: case convergent toward the portion l5. The, top of theinclin'ed surface 15 is brought inwardly to a noncoplanar relation with the outer' surfaces of the doors. The details of theconstruction of the upperportion and upper edge of this door and of the connection of theelement l5 therewith are features of this invention.

Inasmuch as this invention relates particularly to the anti-friction a1'1d ho-ld'-out' features, only a general description of the other parts Qfthe cabinet, including the dispensingme'chanism;is given, and'it willlbeuhde'rstood that thepresent invention can be appliedto any type of cabinet which has a dispensing r-oll from which sheet material passes outwardly through a delivery opening, or to any dispensing cabinet which has a pinch roll from which the paper passes outwardly through a discharge opening.

In the present embodiment there is provided an inner unit arranged to be easily detached and upon which unit all of the dispensing elements are mounted. The unit comprises a pair of side plates 20, 2|.

Mounted on the unit is a measuring roll 29 and a pinch roll at. A roll of clean toweling is indicated at and the toweling passes upwardly against the measuring roll and between it and the pinch roll, thence over the pinch roll, thence outwardly and downwardly through the delivery Opening 84 to engage the anti-friction and holdout device It. The toweling passes downwardly below the holdout element l5, thence is brought around the bottom of the open door '5 (represented in Figure 1 in dotted lines), thence upwardly and into contact with a wet towel smoothing device. This device comprises a movable partitioning and smoothing element cooperative with stationary elements attached to the side plates. After leaving the smoother the toweling is led to the soiled towel takeup roll and this roll is operated by a roll, by frictional engagement with the toweling on the take-up roll.

Now reverting to the main features of this invention. It is to be noted that that part 65 of the toweling which lies between the pinch roll 30 (or an equivalent dispensing or feeding roll) "and the lower end of the element I6, is straight during a pull on the toweling by the user. It will be further noted that this portion does not drag against either the lower side of the upper door nor the upper side of the lower door, that is, it does not touch the upper and lower sides of the delivery opening however that opening may be formed. It will be further noted that the de ree of incline of the outer face of the friction-reducing plate I6 is such that the toweling engages it only at its lower portion. This outer face slants inwardly and upwardly in relation to the inner face of the toweling 65. In other words, the toweling only engages the element It over a small area and thus the friction of the downpull of the toweling is substantially reduced while at the same time there is no friction between the edges of the opening and any part of the toweling during withdrawal. It will be noted that the construction claimed herein can be applied as well to paper toweling to reduce friction. However, its most valuable application is for cloth toweling. In so-called continuous cabinets, as well as in the paper cabinets, the measuring roll 29 is operated by means of friction of the toweling against it and by the use of a pinch roll 30 sufficient frictional contact is maintained. The measuring roll also operates a suitable timing mechanism.

A certain amount of friction has also to be developed against the roll 29 in order to operate a timing mechanism. It is desirable to reduce the total frictional load needed for all operations to a minimum, and thus make it easier to obtain toweling by the act of pulling applied to that portion of the toweling 69 which extends below the element l6 and which is spaced by the element [6 from the front of the cabinet.

It will be understood that when the user approaches the cabinet he introduces the fingers of the hands from opposite sides rearwardly of that part of the toweling 69 and between it and the front face of the door 5.

The upper part of the door 5 has an inturned horizontal flange 10 and the door 5 has openings H which receive prongs 12 of the lower inner edge of element I6. The prongs are turned as shown to ecure the bottom of the element [6. The upper end of the element It is turned over rearwardly and to a point beneath the flange 10 as at 13 and the element I6 has a top portion 14 which is flatly engaged with the horizontal portion 19 of the door. The element IB is of greater length than the Width of the traveling. The element I6 is made by stamping and the upper part of the lower door is formed in a similar manner. The element 16 is nickel plated to further reduce friction.

The holdout function is believed to be new per se, and also to be new in combination with the discharge opening and the feed roll for maintaining a straight line pull of that part of the toweling which extends from the feed roll through the discharge opening to a point outside of the cabinet.

We claim as our invention:

1. In combination with a dispensing cabinet having a dispensing roll and a delivery opening in an upright front wall, and a plate having an upper portion hooked over the lower edge of the opening, and extending outwardly and downwardly below the delivery opening, and connected :at its lower end to the front face of the cabinet, and adapted to hold delivered toweling outwardly spaced from the outer face of said upright front wall.

2. A dispensing cabinet having a discharge opening, means attached to the lower edge of the opening and extending outwardly and downwardly and adapted to space the delivered toweling from the upright front face of the lower door, the lower edge of said opening having an inwardly extending flange, and said means comprising a metal plate hooked over and around said flange.

3. A cabinet for dispensing sheet material having upper and lower doors, the lower edge of the upper door and the upper edge of the lower door cooperating to form a discharge opening for the sheet material, means associated with the upper edge and upper portion of the lower door and over which the sheet material is delivered and against which it rides after delivery through the opening, said means adapted to hold sheet material extending below it, in spaced relation to an upright wall of the door, said means comprising a metal element crimped over the upper edge of said lower door and having a downwardly, outwardly slanting portion of a longitudinal extent substantially equal to the longitudinal extent of the opening, said portion terminating in an angularly related portion which is secured to the outer face of said door.

4. In combination with a dispensing cabinet having a delivery opening in an upright front wall, a plate having its upper end connected to and over the lower edge of the opening and extending downwardly and outwardly from said lower edge, and having an inturned portion having prongs passing through openings in the front wall.

5. In combination with a dispensing cabinet having a dispensing roll and a delivery opening in an upright front wall, a plate hooked over the lower edge of the opening and extending downwardly and outwardly from said lower edge and hooking portion, and having an inturned bottom terminal having prongs passing through openings in the front wall and having at its lower end a rounded portion, the relation of the roll, opening and rounded portion being such that the toweling forms a straight line without touching either the upper or lower edges of the opening, and so that it engages substantially only said rounded portion.

6. In combination with a dispensing cabinet having a delivery opening in an upright front wall, and towel hold-out and antifriction means comprising a plate having its upper terminal clamped over the lower edge of the opening and extending outwardly and downwardly, the lower terminal of the plate being. curved inwardly.

RUDOLPH G. BIRR. ALBERT C. GRUNWALD. 

